


Breaking Down Babylon

by fictionalthirst



Series: Exiled from Eden [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Academic Failure, Alternate Universe, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Come Shot, Light Masochism, M/M, Miscommunication, Mundane Eos, Reconciliation, Rough Sex, Sneaking Around, Verbal Abuse, lying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:07:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalthirst/pseuds/fictionalthirst
Summary: “Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.”- Bahamut, probably
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Prompto Argentum
Series: Exiled from Eden [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2154279
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Breaking Down Babylon

**Author's Note:**

> Prompto's dealing with a _lot_ in this one. It's only his POV, as well. Gladio looks like a huge jerk in this. Noct does, too. Ignis is, as I usually write him, a complete sweetheart and bro. Prompto's Mom is very, _very_ verbally abusive. So if all that isn't your thing, I don't recommend this one.
> 
> I promise, though, it ends happily.

He was running late, again, for homeroom. Pelting down the sidewalk and dodging past all of the random citizens - mostly people on their way to work - Prompto was glad that he’d been keeping up with his running every other morning, or else he’d have collapsed halfway between his house and school. He lived close enough to walk, but waking up late always made the journey seem twice as far. He really needed to get his shit together.

Luckily, his speed afforded him enough time to fall into his seat just as the bell rang. He needed several minutes to catch his breath as Ms. Elshett began the lesson, but he could ignore the half-stifled laughing and smirks from his fellow classmates well enough to gain his composure and try _not_ to fall asleep during the morning announcements. Homeroom used to be great, when Noct was in his class. Now it was just a struggle to stay awake.

Prompto searched through his backpack for his notebook and a pencil, yawning a bit behind his wrist as the Principal's secretary droned on and on about the upcoming events for the remainder of the week. It was not the high-energy start he needed to his day.

Especially when he’d been at Gladio’s so late last night.

Prompto sighed and doodled in the notebook, trying not to dwell too deeply on the previous evening, lest he get a bit more _excited_ in class than was strictly appropriate. He may have had to run to school so hard that his legs were still sore a half hour later, and he may be a bit sleep deprived, but needless to say it had been worth it.

After homeroom, he had History and English, and then, thankfully, lunch. He was already starving, but this was one time he was glad to have his lunch period at 10:30 in the morning. After that would be P.E., and he definitely would need some fuel to be able to avoid passing out during the pace test he had only _just_ remembered would be conducted in today’s class.

Math followed that, and… well, Prompto wasn’t mentally prepared to think about that this early in the day. It was easily his worst subject, and it had been more than frustrating this year. Not to mention that it had become a significant problem, keeping his average down, and his mother was sure to be furious about it. He hoped that he could balance the low grades in math with high marks in his other classes.

Prompto’s phone buzzed in his pocket with a text from Noctis as he made his way to Art class.

 **PrinceofNaps** : hey you comin over 2nite  
**PromptlyLate** : yeah def, just after I get out of work at 7  
**PrinceofNaps** : nice, iggy’s makin that chicken thing u like  
**PrinceofNaps** : he says we’ve been orderin out too much  
**PromptlyLate** : niiiiiiiice bro, can’t wait. see you after work  
**PrinceofNaps** : yeah

It was going to be another late night, since Noct had just secured a copy of Days to Daylight for them to marathon play. Luckily he didn’t have to work his new delivery job tomorrow evening, so he’d be able to catch up on some sleep after school let out for the day.

Another buzz from his pocket, this time from Gladio.

 **BigBIGBadio** : Any chance I’ll get to see you tonight?  
**PromptlyLicked** : uhhhh, you will if you’re going to Noct’s. we’re playing days to daylight, it just came out  
**PromptlyLicked** : and you know he’s going to keep me up til 3am playing  
**BigBIGBadio** : Oh, right. Damn.  
**BigBIGBadio** : I was hoping for a little repeat of last night.  
**BigBIGBadio** : I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you all morning.

Prompto’s heart skipped. He and Gladio had been going at it for the better part of four months or so, but it had been super casual and secret, considering the fact that Gladio was so close with Noct. Not to mention that Gladio was _technically_ an adult and Prompto was not _quite_ out of high school yet.

It was only at a sleepover a few months ago that after Noct and Ignis went to bed, Gladio and Prompto took their flirtation to a new level by having sex on Noct’s sofa. It was admittedly an escalation that Prompto _definitely_ hadn’t seen coming, but it had been more than welcome. 

After that, Prompto had promised to keep it quiet, knowing Noct would probably be pissed that his best friend and ‘brother’ were hooking up. It was nothing more than sex between them, and definitely never crossed the line of more than one night at a time together. Which was more a Gladio rule than anything; Prompto would stay over every single night if given the choice.

For Gladio to invite him over again so soon… it was both flattering and anxiety-inducing. Prompto wondered what it meant.

 **PromptlyLicked** : wish I could, big guy.  
**PromptlyLicked** : tomorrow night?  
**BigBIGBadio** : Got that work thing.  
**PromptlyLicked** : oh yeah :C

Gladio worked for his father’s security company, as an instructor for the company’s guards. He’d been training for it since he had developed hand-eye-coordination. Both he and Noctis had secure, high paying jobs set aside for them since _birth_. Gladio was a bit more lucky than Noct, because his work didn’t require attending university. Gladio was fairly busy with his job most times, and with functions like these, which often got in the way of any spontaneity he and Prompto might enjoy.

 **BigBIGBadio** : After? It’s only gonna go until 10.

Prompto sighed. A late Thursday night would wreak havoc on his Friday morning. He’d no doubt run late to school again, and he had a much longer shift on Fridays when the restaurant was busy. He’d be burning the candle at both ends. And the candle was already pretty melted down.

 **PromptlyLicked** : sure, just text me when you’re back home, i’ll head over.  
**BigBIGBadio** : Great. Can’t wait to bend you like a pretzel again, Blondie.  
**PromptlyLicked** : lookin forward to it, big guy.

He closed out the messaging app and cursed when the bell rang, and the throng of students around him scrambled to make it to their classes. Stuffing his phone in his pocket, he took off for the classroom in a rush, breaking into a full run when the crowd thinned out.

Life was a bit like a tornado lately, and Prompto hoped he could avoid the destruction for as long as possible.

~~~

“Dude, what are you doing?” Noct asked, rolling over in the dim blue light pouring off of Prompto’s laptop as the blond used its glow to see his textbook and notebook.

“Sorry, bud,” Prompto answered, lowering the brightness as he popped out one of his earbuds, plugged into the side of his beat up old computer. “I needed to work on some math homework. It takes me twice as long as everyone else so I gotta work harder.”

“No wonder you suck at it, you’re probably totally beat and making dumb mistakes,” Noct sighed, pushing his face into the pillow. It wasn’t a malicious accusation, but it hurt all the same. He didn’t need to be sleepy to make dumb mistakes on his math work. It just came naturally. “Go to sleep or Iggy will have a conniption if he sees the light under the door.”

“Ok, ok,” Prompto sighed, using his notebook as a bookmark and setting the homework aside before closing his laptop. “We can stay up all night killing zombies, but homework is the last straw?”

“Dude, he said our limit was one in the morning. Are you gonna risk pissing him off at three just for some math homework?”

“Yeah, I guess not,” Prompto faked a shiver, and Noct shoved his arm before rolling back over to sleep.

It took a few minutes for Prompto to finally slip into slumber, and once he did, he dreamed of his math teacher and his mother grabbing him by the hand and carving numbers into his wrist.

~~~

Prompto knocked on Gladio’s door at midnight, just fifteen minutes after he’d gotten the text that Gladio was _finally_ home from his work event.

He had been a little miffed at Gladio for making him wait so long, until the older guy opened the door still _mostly_ dressed in his formal suit, and any thought of frustration was washed away on a tide of absolute hormone-driven _tabula rasa_.

“Damn, Gladio,” Prompto breathed, pushing his way into the apartment and shucking off his beat-up sneakers. “You clean up nice.”

Gladio’s long hair had been tied half-up, and the chocolate waves of the length still tickled his neck and shoulders. His tie had been loosened, but still hung around his neck just under the slightly rumpled collar of his creme dress shirt, a length of patterned purple that offered a splash of color to a relatively tame and professional ensemble.

“Thanks, babe,” Gladio smiled, and Prompto thought he might just die from being called _that_ particular pet name. It wasn’t something you called just anyone, certainly not just a friend, not even if you were having sex with that friend. For months it had been “Blondie”, when they were alone, or just “Prom”.

“H-how was it?” Prompto tried to remain casual about the change.

“Boring,” Gladio answered, pulling off his suit jacket and falling onto the sofa, one thick thigh straining the bottoms of his suit as he crossed it over its twin. “I had to listen to a lot of small talk and smile nice while all I could think about was the other night and how much I wanted to get back home to text you.”

“Ah,” Prompto blushed, floundering for what to say, not really knowing just _what_ about the other night had been so memorable to Gladio in particular. It was _great_ , just like always, but nothing out of the ordinary for them. And the insistent comments of how good it had been bordered on the edge of a compliment. The squirming sensation Prompto always got when Gladio said _nice_ things to him twisted in his belly.

“C’mere,” Gladio patted the sofa next to him.

Prompto didn’t need to be asked more than once. He sunk to the plush surface on his knees, shifting to get close to Gladio as the bigger guy pulled him against his side. Once he was within the grip of Gladio’s hands, Prompto was hauled against him and their mouths crashed together, the intensity a little surprising to Prompto, but quickly matched. Gladio was an expert at coaxing pleasure from Prompto’s body, and it had always, always started with a kiss that could curl his toes and turn his stomach from butterflies into a bonfire.

“Tell me what you want,” Gladio breathed against Prompto’s mouth.

It was the one thing that turned his insides to ice. Prompto _hated_ that question - it sent a flurry of doubt and anxiety straight to his core. He didn’t want to be asked - he wanted to be _told_. And Gladio knew that. It was what they’d been doing for months, what they’d done the _very first time_. Why was he changing the game?

“Gladio,” Prompto squirmed against him. “I… can’t.”

“You did it well enough the other night,” Gladio dragged his teeth down the column of Prompto’s throat.

The memory came flooding back of Gladio three fingers deep inside Prompto’s aching opening, and the sound of his own voice begging Gladio to finally just bury himself inside.

It had been the adrenaline and the need and the furious build up that Gladio had teased to a frenzy. And that loss of inhibition was what had Gladio so worked up now.

Prompto had never felt performance anxiety like he did in that moment.

“I’m not sure I can do that again,” He said, feeling like his teeth were clicking together. “It was an in-the-heat-of-the-moment reaction…”

“Then I guess I just gotta get that heat back, huh?” Gladio grinned and nipped at Prompto’s ear. “I’m up for the challenge.”

“Not much of a challenge,” Prompto breathed as warm palms slipped over his pecs, thumbs teasing at the peak of his nipples. “Is it really a triumph if I was hot the moment you opened the door?”

“I kinda think it is,” Gladio grinned, diving in to nip at Prompto’s jaw and neck. “But I won’t count it as a win until I get you under me, begging me for exactly what you’re aching for. I don’t care if it takes hours, I’m gonna get that mouth to open up for me.”

“You always do,” Prompto says, trying to bring Gladio’s lips to his own by pulling the swath of tied-back hair.

It didn’t take hours, because it could never; Prompto’s need for Gladio was always turned up to eleven within minutes of foreplay, and once his knees were pushed up, parted and braced near his head under Gladio’s considerable weight, the significant length of him riding the cleft of Prompto’s ass, it all broke loose from his normally tightly closed lips.

“Gladio, please-” Prompto cried, his arms gripping both of Gladio’s shoulders as the bigger man rutted against him, teasing at his balls and just barely brushing his member. “I need your cock, now, gods, just drive it into me! Please!”

“Why?” Gladio asked, casting a shadow over him, dripping with sweat and his hair in disarray.

“Because-” Prompto gasped as Gladio rocked forward particularly violently. “Because I wanna be so full of you - I want you to come in me, make a mess - split me apart and break me -”

Gladio groaned and then he was _inside_ , thick and burning like a hot poker, but it was the agony that Prompto needed desperately. He cried out as though he’d been run through. But then it was like it had always been, like a part of Prompto was finally _the way it was supposed to be_. Under Gladio, bringing him pleasure, taking it for himself, too. A void well and truly filled.

“Fuck, Prom, baby-” Gladio grunted, his pace stuttering. “I really want you to ride me. Get on top.”

“I would if you let me,” Prompto laughed, breathless, as he tried not to scream, Gladio’s cock pummeling him into the soft throw rug as they fucked in the small space between the coffee table and the sofa.

“It’s really hard to pull out once I’m in here,” Gladio admitted, trying to slow his thrusts.

“ _I’m_ gonna come either way, Big Guy,” Prompto panted, reaching for Gladio’s face with both hands, caressing his stubbled jaw and pushing some of the hair out of his eyes. He gasped again, the stroke hitting him _just right_. “Really fucking soon if you keep up the angle.”

“Six,” Gladio swore, finally just sitting back on his calves, his cock popping free, clearly using all of his willpower to make it happen. “C’mon.”

He sat back on the floor, shifting his legs out from under himself and holding himself up in what appeared to be the middle of a sit-up, the infuriatingly fit behemoth showing off without even meaning to. Prompto climbed his way onto the tensed, thick thighs and lined himself up just before plunging down and bringing them together again, both of them crying out with the reunion.

“Prom,” Gladio murmured into Prompto’s chest, his rough facial hair scraping over sensitive skin in a sweet rush of pain. “I-”

Whatever he’d been about to say, it was stolen from his mouth with the absolute _roar_ of completion, and the resulting flood of come coating Prompto’s insides set his own orgasm off, bursting in between them.

It took several good moments for them to regain their normal functions, and Gladio finally released the position he’d held himself in, flopping back onto the floor, the mess on his stomach resembling a very _bad_ abstract painting. It was the only thing that kept Prompto from falling forward onto his chest.

Instead, he carefully rose from Gladio’s lap, trying to release him as gently as possible, and waddled his way toward the bathroom to clean himself off.

“Hey…” Gladio said, sleepily. “Where’re you going?”

“Unless you want me to ruin the flooring, I gotta make a break for the shower,” Prompto told him, rounding the corner into the half bath where there was just a toilet, sink and shower stall.

He spent a good few minutes letting the spray wash over him as he tenderly cleaned himself, his ass pleasantly sore. By the time he had finally deemed himself clean, Gladio opened the door, the steam billowing out and bringing with it a quick chill.

It dissipated the moment the door was shut again, and the stream of the rain shower gathered steam once more inside the generously sized stall.

“You wanna stay tonight?” Gladio asked. “I don’t think I’ve got enough energy to go again, but we can just pass out if you want.”

“I can’t be late for school tomorrow,” Prompto said, a little mournfully. “Noct’ll wonder why, and you know how bad I am at lying.”

“It’s not your strong suit, no,” Gladio grinned down at him, drawing him close in his arms. “You sure? I could drive you.”

“That’s wayyyyy dangerous,” Prompto said, sliding his hands up Gladio’s slick pecs. “We’d definitely get caught if he saw us together that early.”

“I’ll drop you around the corner,” Gladio pressed. He was being inordinately persistent about Prompto staying over.

And Prompto was, if anything, a people-pleaser.

“If you insist, Big Guy,” Prompto chuckled, feeling a little flush over the vehement desire for him to stay the night. It had never been this _needy_ between them.

Something was going on, and Prompto wasn’t sure what. But he was going to try to enjoy it without getting too attached to the idea that it meant _more_.

~~~

“Hey, Big Guy,” Prompto whispered, shaking Gladio’s shoulder gently. “We gotta go - your place is further from school than mine.”

“Mmmff,” Gladio grumbled, grimacing awake, his eyes having difficulty opening. “What the hell time is it?”

“It’s 6:30,” Prompto told him, and almost laughed at the misery that washed over the brunette.

“Fuck, I forgot how early school starts,” Gladio groused. “Alright, gimme a sec, I just gotta grab a shirt.”

“Here,” Prompto said, offering him a long sleeved tee shirt. “We really have to run.”

“Alright, let’s go then,” Gladio held out a hand for Prompto to help him off the bed, and with a light laugh, he pulled as hard as he could, Gladio acting as dead weight.

Once Gladio had gotten _himself_ to his feet, he grabbed Prompto in a one-armed hug and pressed a kiss to the top of his head, buried in his mop of hair, and made his way to the door to slide on his shoes and grab his keys.

“It’s a good thing I had my uniform with me,” Prompto commented as they piled into Gladio’s truck. “Otherwise we’d have had to get up at 6 to bring me _home_ first.”

“Yeah, good thing, ‘cause I would have never been able to do that,” Gladio grinned as he reversed out of his assigned parking space. “When do you get out of that hellhole again?”

“March, Gladio,” Prompto rolled his eyes. “You haven’t been out of school so long that you don’t know how the school year works.”

“Fucking _Six_ , that’s too far away,” Gladio complained.

“Tell me about it,” Prompto laughed. “If I didn’t want to go to college, I’d quit next month when I finally reach eighteen.”

“Keep at it,” Gladio said, his hand leaving the steering wheel to brush through Prompto’s hair. “Get that degree and move on and up.”

“That’s the plan,” Prompto nodded, turning his face toward the window, flushing. Gladio’s persistent affection was making his heart flutter.

“Hey,” Gladio said, suddenly, when they pulled up to a stop light.

“Hm?” Prompto asked, facing the brunette again.

Gladio leaned in and pressed a hot but chaste kiss to Prompto’s slack mouth, pulling away only when the car behind them honked to indicate that the light had changed back.

“Sorry, I just wasn’t going to be able to do that once we’ve stopped to drop you,” Gladio smiled, and then focused on the road.

“S’okay,” Prompto said, dazed.

They reached the block close to the school in the direction which Noct and Ignis were certain to _not_ be, and Gladio pulled over to let Prompto out.

“See you later,” Prompto smiled shyly. He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around _this_ Gladio, no matter how much he enjoyed it.

“I’ll text you in like an hour after I’ve had a nap,” Gladio smirked, and Prompto stuck his tongue out.

“Lucky,” Prompto pouted, but closed the door and waved as he trotted down the block.

No matter what happened today, Prompto felt like he’d carry this quiet joy all the way through.

~~~

“You can imagine my surprise when I came home last night to an empty house,” HIs mother said, when he walked in the door after school. “As well as my displeasure that you _didn’t_ return home.”

“I spent the night at a friend’s house,” Prompto began, but was immediately cut off, as per the norm.

“On a school night,” She volleyed, lips drawn in a tight line. “It’s no wonder your grades are slipping.”

“I’m sorry, I-”

“It’s always math, with you,” She groused, holding a paper in her hand so tightly that it crumpled. “You’re pulling all 80s in every subject, 90s in your arts classes, but somehow _math_ is just beyond you.”

Prompto knew better than to try to offer an explanation. She was well beyond the capacity to hear anything he had to say.

“I can assume you’ve got no idea how to work out an average,” She continued, crossing her arms in front of her. “But this’ll pull down all your work. And if you fail math, you’re not going to graduate this year.”

Prompto simply hung his head and nodded slightly, all the joy from earlier in the day shriveling up like a prune with a heavy pit. It felt caught between his stomach and his throat.

“Your father and I are getting a divorce,” She announced, completely out of nowhere. “And in fact, we’re selling the house, so we need you out by October.”

Ice crawled up Prompto’s spine and into his limbs, setting them to shaking. He thought he’d have more time before he’d need to become a completely independent adult, but here it was being tossed at him like a boulder from a catapult.

“Get a tutor, and graduate,” She ordered. “And find an apartment by the first of the month. We want to show the house, so it has to be empty. The listing is already online.”

“Y-yes, ma’am,” Prompto said, not able to meet her gaze.

“We told you when we left for Altissia,” She continued, putting her hands on her hips, “You needed to be responsible for yourself and this house, so no one would question where we were. We kept this roof over your head by moving far away for work, but you’d rather go out and screw around with your friends than make sure we’re all surviving. How’d we get stuck with someone so selfish?”

“I’m sorry,” Prompto whispered.

“Deal with it, and make sure you’re out of here,” She concluded, grabbing her travel luggage and making her way toward the door. “Call your father when you’ve moved out. Movers will be coming by on the seventh to remove _our_ things. I’ve marked everything and they know what they’re doing so just stay out of their way once you’ve let them in.”

“Alright,” Prompto nodded, weakly.

“The seventh,” She repeated. “Don’t screw this up.”

“Yes, ma’am,” He replied.

And she was gone.

~~~

 **BigBIGBadio** : Baby...  
**BigBIGBadio** : You free tonight?  
**BigBIGBadio** : Noct and Iggy are having dinner with the Dads, so I’m guessing you’re not hanging over there.  
**BigBIGBadio** : But you probably have work, huh?  
**PromptlyLicked** : yeah unfortunately  
**PromptlyLicked** : i’m on til 8  
**BigBIGBadio** : That’s pretty early.  
**BigBIGBadio** : Wanna come over?  
**BigBIGBadio** : I’ll pick you up.  
**PromptlyLicked** : i’ve got my bike  
**BigBIGBadio:** : I’ll bring the truck, we’ll toss it in back.  
**PromptlyLicked** : you know what  
**PromptlyLicked** : i’d really like that  
**PromptlyLicked** : but I can’t stay over  
**BigBIGBadio** : Why not?  
**PromptlyLicked** : i’ve got something i need to get done this weekend  
**PromptlyLicked** : and you know I never get any sleep when i spend the night at your place on a saturday ;)  
**BigBIGBadio** : Do you just want to call it off?  
**PromptlyLicked** : ...no, not if you’re ok with me heading home after  
**BigBIGBadio** : I guess.  
**BigBIGBadio** : See you in an hour and a half.  
**PromptlyLicked** : great, see you then

Okay, now Prompto was getting weirded out. Gladio had never complained before when Prompto had left after they were done having sex. Had, a couple of times, ushered him out the door. Not in an unkind way, but in a very firm manner that even Prompto could figure out.

If he didn’t need to spend the better part of Sunday looking for an apartment, he’d have been overjoyed to stay. Saturday nights at Gladio’s place always lead to Sundays lazing about until around 10:30am when they’d get up and grab coffees before Gladio would drop him off at home.

They were Prompto’s favorite get-togethers, because they were generally pretty comfortable and felt a little bit like dates.

It was a foolish thing to hope, really, considering they’d agreed right off the bat that anything they did together after that first night would be with the understanding that it was going to be casual in the _aloof_ way, rather than the _comfortable_ way. Prompto was okay with that. Any little piece of Gladio he could get was good enough, now that he knew what it was like to be in his arms.

Prompto was startled out of his reverie by his phone chiming in his hand with a text from his boss, wondering why he hadn’t made it back to the restaurant yet from his last delivery. With a flush and a fumble, he texted back “omw” and pushed off on the pedal of his bike, nearly falling from the contraption when a car honked at him, its brakes squealing as it rounded the corner and nearly collided with him.

“Watch it, fucko,” The older man shouted at him, and Prompto held up a hand in apology as the man drove off.

“Sheesh,” Prompto breathed, heart hammering. “That was close.”

With a thorough glance around him in all directions, he resumed his mad dash back to the restaurant under the streetlights of the dark city.

~~~

“Ah!” Gladio cried out, the thick spurt of his come spattering all over his chest, Prompto’s completion immediately following, painting a less impressive stripe that mingled together. Exhausted, he fell back against the bed as he rolled off of Gladio’s thighs, laying weak and sated against the bedding with an arm thrown over his eyes.

“Damn it,” Gladio muttered, groping around, his hand landing blindly on Prompto’s knee, letting his fingers trace up the muscle of his leg. “Didn’t even get inside you that time.”

“Well, you _were_ pretty worked up,” Prompto pointed out. “It’s fine. Next time.”

“You sure you need to go home?” Gladio asked. “What’ve you got going on tomorrow, anyway?”

“Uh, just this thing for Photography,” Prompto lied. “We’ve got a big project due and I haven’t made time to take the shots yet. I’ve been slacking a little.”

“And you have to do that early in the morning?” Gladio his head against the pillow to shoot him a disbelieving look. “So early you can’t just go one more round with me and then take off from here after a little shut-eye?”

“Afraid so, Big Guy,” Prompto smiled. “I really wish I didn’t have to.”

And that was more true than he could say. He wished he could confide the truth to Gladio, but that would _definitely_ cross the line from ‘casual’ to ‘involved’, and he didn’t want to become that boring anchor full of problems around Gladio’s neck. He wanted to be _fun_ , to be something Gladio couldn’t get tired of or find fault in.

“Tomorrow night?” Gladio pressed.

“School on Monday,” Prompto sighed. “I need to make sure everything is set for this project, and also keep up with my other work.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was distracting you so much,” Gladio said, removing his hand from Prompto’s leg. The tone wasn’t exactly joking, and Prompto felt an icey lump forming in his stomach.

“Hey,” He said, placatingly, leaning on his hip to smooth a hand over Gladio’s shoulder. “It’s usually not this bad, but we just began the semester and I’ve got this annoyingly huge workload-“

“It’s fine, Prom,” Gladio brushed him off, rolling off the bed and padding to the ensuite bathroom, out of Prompto’s line of sight. “I’m gonna clean off and then I’ll run you home.”

“That’s okay, don’t worry about it,” Prompto said, biting back the sudden surge of _oh-shit-I’m-about-to-cry_ and sliding off the bed to find his clothes. “I’ll just bike back, it’s fine.”

“Prompto,” Gladio leaned out of the bathroom with a raised eyebrow. “It’s midnight. I don’t want you walking home, alone.”

“It’s never stopped you before,” Prompto blinked, confused. What was with him, these days?

Gladio’s expression slid from indignant to completely walled-off, and Prompto felt that chill in his guts again.

“Fine,” Gladio said, voice chilly. “See you later, then.” And with that, he disappeared behind the door, and a moment later, Prompto heard the gentle stream of the shower running.

He stood there, a little dumbfounded. Completely unable to figure out what he’d done to make Gladio so angry that he’d done that thing where he became completely ice-cold. He’d only ever seen it directed at Noctis, before. It was one thing to awkwardly have to sit in the atmosphere when _they’d_ had a fight… but to have it directed at _him_... it was unbearable.

Part of him wanted to strip and beg his way into the shower to make it up to Gladio. The other part knew that if he didn’t find a new place to live… he’d be living on the street. And he did _not_ want that, not when winter was coming up.

Pulling on his hoodie, he hunted down his shoes and tugged them on, a bubbling dread filling him. With one last backward glance to the bedroom, he pushed his way out of the door and into the elevator.

Even in the parking garage, the early-fall night was chilly. Pulling his bicycle from the back of Gladio’s truck with some difficulty, he worried whether he’d done something to ruin the whole thing. It hitched in his throat, a short, unexpected pain. Swallowing it, he pushed off on his bike, the trip home quick and quiet in the late night of the city.

~~~

“Dude, you’re working too much,” Noctis commented on Monday afternoon. He’d been texting the past few days, asking to hang out

“Yeah, haha,” Prompto wanted to sigh. He really _was_ working too hard. Between the twenty hours a week at the ramen place, his homework, his tutor and his apartment hunt, he was completely unavailable for _anything_ fun. He was barely getting any sleep, either.

“What’re you working so many hours for, anyway?” Noct asked. “You finally gonna drop the cash on a Gamestation 180?”

“Uh, no,” Prompto laughed, sweating, grasping for a reason that he needed money so badly. “I’m… trying to upgrade my camera. This thing’s like five years old, and I wanna try some other lenses and stuff.”

He couldn’t tell Noctis that he was saving up for an apartment. And buying his own groceries. Noct would want to help, or would tell him he could stay at his family’s apartments, or, worse, try to give him money. Which Ignis had, when the two boys had first begun hanging out, made clear to Prompto that _that_ would _never_ happen, nor would any inquiries of the sort be tolerated.

“You’re really getting into that, huh?” Noct said, shrugging. “Well, it sucks you gotta work so hard, but I get it. Maybe this weekend?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Prompto nodded, knowing that he was going to have to bail on that, too. He wasn’t quite sure how many more lies he could tell to everyone before they became suspicious.

~~~

 **BigBIGBadio** : I know I probably shouldn’t even bother to ask, but are you free tonight?  
**PromptlyLicked** : ugh  
**PromptlyLicked** : no, i’m not  
**PromptlyLicked** : i’m at the restaurant til 9 and i’m not feeling well so i’m gonna head straight home  
**BigBIGBadio** : You weren’t feeling well last week, either.  
**BigBIGBadio** : You sure you don’t need to see a doctor?  
**PromptlyLicked** : it’s not that serious  
**BigBIGBadio** : Then why don’t you come over and we’ll just watch a movie or something?  
**BigBIGBadio** : I’ll order dinner.  
**BigBIGBadio** : Soup, if you want.  
**PromptlyLicked** : i don’t want you to catch it  
**BigBIGBadio** : You just said it’s not serious. I don’t mind a little cold.  
**PromptlyLicked** : yeah but if you get a cold just after i get a cold noct might get suspicious  
**BigBIGBadio** : Are you serious?  
**PromptlyLicked** : yeah  
**BigBIGBadio** : ...What are we even doing here, Prompto?  
**PromptlyLicked** : i dunno  
**BigBIGBadio** : Look, when we started this, I said if you weren’t interested anymore, you could just tell me.  
**BigBIGBadio** : So just tell me.  
**PromptlyLicked** : that’s not what’s going on  
**PromptlyLicked** : i still want to fuck around  
**BigBIGBadio** : Prompto, I know you’re not sick.  
**BigBIGBadio** : Noct told me you’re seeing someone else.  
**PromptlyLicked** : !!!!  
**PromptlyLicked** : what?!  
**PromptlyLicked** : i’m definitely not doing that!  
**BigBIGBadio** : Then who’s the guy Noct saw you with in the library after school?  
**BigBIGBadio** : I get it, you know.  
**BigBIGBadio** : He’s probably a lot closer to what you’re looking for.  
**BigBIGBadio** : He’s got less inconvenient responsibilities to contend with.  
**BigBIGBadio** : You guys can see each other during the day.  
**BigBIGBadio** : It’s okay if you want to break it off.  
**PromptlyLicked** : no, no, big guy - that’s… he’s my math tutor  
**PromptlyLicked** : i need to get my grade up  
**BigBIGBadio** : Is that what they’re calling it now?  
**PromptlyLicked** : gladio…  
**BigBIGBadio** : Look, Prompto.  
**BigBIGBadio** : We said this would be fun.  
**BigBIGBadio** : I’m not having fun anymore.  
**BigBIGBadio** : So I think, if you’re not gonna have the guts to call it off, I’m going to have to.  
**BigBIGBadio** : I’ll stay away from Noct’s place if I know you’re gonna be there.  
**BigBIGBadio** : So let’s not see each other for a while.  
**PromptlyLicked** : alright.  
**PromptlyLicked** : sorry.  
**BigBIGBadio** : Don’t apologize. Nothing to feel sorry about.

~~~

Waiting for the traffic light, Prompto checked his phone when the notification pinged, worried that his boss was, yet again, pissy about how fast he was making deliveries. But it was Noct, instead.

 **PrinceofNaps** : hey what’s the deal lately  
**PrinceofNaps** : i know ur like trying to afford that camera but damn  
**PrinceofNaps** : spare a few secs for ur best friend  
**PromptlyLate** : sorry  
**PromptlyLate** : i don’t know what to say about that  
**PromptlyLate** : i gotta make my hours  
**PrinceofNaps** : what about that guy  
**PromptlyLate** : what guy?  
**PrinceofNaps** : that guy in the library  
**PrinceofNaps** : i see u hanging out with him every other day  
**PrinceofNaps** : is he ur new best friend  
**PrinceofNaps** : or is having a boyfriend a higher priority  
**PromptlyLate** : noct, c’mon...  
**PrinceofNaps** : when u get some free time let me know  
**PrinceofNaps** : maybe we’ll see each other before graduation  
**PrinceofNaps** : before you go off to art college and i never see u again  
**PrinceofNaps** : ttyl

Prompto clutched his phone in a rough grip, so far beyond sad that he couldn’t even access tears or the usual pain in his throat. Everything was falling apart at the seams, and there was no way to stitch it back together. There was only so much of him to go around, and the two people he cared about most couldn’t even get a piece of it.

Was this going to be life now? Just working as hard as possible to survive? Losing everything that made life any fun for the past three years?

The crowd of pedestrians waiting to cross the street shifted, anticipating the green cactuar signal that they could cross, so Prompto edged his front wheel off the curb, ready to take off the moment it lit up.

The moment it switched over, he forced the pedal forward, launching himself into the street across the white lines designating the crosswalk. A half second later, he heard a collective gasp and a screech before a hard, painful impact threw him from his bicycle and into the road proper.

He landed funny on his right arm and he _heard_ the snap as his arm broke. Then, pain, hot and sharp, spreading through his arm. He bit back a scream, the sound erupting as a loud groan from between his teeth.

A few of the crowd gathered around him, some of them asking if he was alright. One person called an ambulance while another couple took pictures of the scene, including the driver’s license plate. The guy was loudly complaining that the incident was Prompto’s fault for dashing out into the road so quickly after the light changed. Several people shouted back that he’d definitely run a red to have been crossing into the road at that moment.

It was all a bit of a blur through the searing, aching pain radiating from his wrist to his shoulder. Prompto hoped that he wouldn’t be responsible for gathering all of the information on the accident, because he was barely hanging on to consciousness through the pain.

~~~

“I can’t believe this,” His mother said as she ushered him inside the house. “It was lucky I was in town to speak with the realtor. Imagine if the hospital had called me and I couldn’t come for _hours_ because I’d have to have caught a flight?”

“I didn’t get hit by a car _on purpose_ ,” Prompto said, impertinent and emboldened with the pain medication the hospital had pumped into him. At least there was a little bit of an advantage to breaking your arm in three places.

“You think a smart mouth is going to endear yourself to me?”

“Doesn’t seem like it could get any _worse_ ,” Prompto said, rolling his eyes with difficulty. The room was slightly spinning, and he just wanted to lie down, but the couch had already been hauled away. He was going to have to go all the way upstairs to get to his bed, the only remaining furniture in the house.

“What’s gotten into you?” She said, fixing him with a look he’d never seen on her face before; a mix of confusion with the usual rage.

“Other than a shit ton of vicodin?” Prompto laughed, holding a hand to the wall as he tried to kick off his shoes. “Maybe it’s the fact that you’re not gonna be my mom soon, and I’m not gonna have to please you anymore.”

“You’ve never pleased me, don’t get it wrong,” She said, her long fingernails digging into her oversized sweater. “I never wanted you in the first place. If your father hadn’t begged me to take you in - ugh. All those years he whined about it, and once you were here, it was nothing but trouble. It would have been fine if he had done what he promised. He said he’d take care of everything, I wouldn’t have to do anything. But here I am, having to pick up after you.”

“Barely,” Prompto spat.

“Barely nothing,” She snapped. “That hospital bill is going to wipe out a good chunk of my savings. I’d make you pay for it but that’ll never happen.”

“That guy is going to have to pay it,” Prompto argued. “The police have all the information, and I have all of the evidence from the witnesses. One of them texted it to my phone.”

She ignored him, barrelling on with her complaints.

“You haven’t even found a new place to live. I’m getting your father involved. Maybe he can talk some sense into you. Not that he ever has, before this, the useless shit. I’m done.”

“Like this is any different than the last eighteen years,” Prompto muttered, sleepily. He was close to passing out, and he didn't want to fall and land on his arm. He felt his way from the door to the kitchen counter and then to the wall opposite the entrance.

“If I could go back twenty years, I’d’ve just gotten knocked up like he wanted,” She groused. “Maybe if I had a kid that was _actually_ mine, I’d have been able to love it. Every time I look at you, I just feel sick.”

All of the pain medicine in the world could not have dulled the ache of that admission. It gripped his lungs with fierce and angry claws, sucked the air from him, leaving him weak and faltering at the mouth of the stairs.

“This is the last time I will be in Insomnia,” She promised. “Call your father if you need something. I’m washing my hands of you.”

The slam of the door behind her reverberated through Prompto’s whole body as he crumpled to the floor slowly. His arm cradled in the sling, he hugged himself as hard as he carefully could, weeping with agonized wails that broke in his throat.

~~~

 **Dad** : Mom says you need some help with finding a place. Here is a link to a realtor that will help you find something that will have a cost reduction for students: http:\\\marshalrealestate.ins  
**Prompto** : thanks  
**Dad** : How’s the arm?  
**Prompto** : hurts  
**Prompto** : a lot  
**Dad** : Sorry to hear that, son.  
**Dad** : I’m sure you’ll be feeling better in no time, though.  
**Dad** : Be well.  
**Prompto** : you too

~~~

“Will your parents be on the lease?” The realtor, Mr. Leonis, asked. He was an intimidating man, but where he fell short in warmth, he made up for in knowledge and helpfulness.

“No, I’m about to turn eighteen,” Prompto answered, still weary from the ordeal of being _hit by a car_. “This is me getting out of their house.”

“I see,” Mr. Leonis nodded, clicking through on his computer. His icy blue eyes were laser-focused, and if he wasn’t so bone-tired, Prompto would have found him attractive, despite the obvious age of the man. These days, he only felt numb, until his medication wore off and it was replaced with sharp spikes of pain. “Well, I have a few options, but a couple are right on the edge of what you might be able to afford. There’s a house share, but that might not be your cup of tea.”

“No, I’d rather be on my own,” Prompto shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position for his arm. “I don’t really care about how big the place is. As long as it has a toilet and a range, I’ll live in a closet.”

“I think we can do a little better than that,” Mr. Leonis smiled, just slightly. “This place should do. What do you think?” He turned the monitor toward Prompto, and it was a good sight better than a closet. It was pretty inexpensive, too. He could handle that.

“Yeah, I like it,” Prompto smiled back, just as slightly. “What do I have to do to get it?”

“First and last month’s rent,” Mr. Leonis answered. “Read through the lease and sign off on it, if it is agreeable.”

“That’s what, like eleven-hundred?” Prompto brought up his phone to check his bank account.

He blinked down at the screen, his eyes surely playing tricks on him under the effect of the drugs.

There was an eighty thousand crown surplus in his account.

“Is everything alright?” Mr. Leonis asked.

“Uh, I’m not sure,” Prompto answered. “Something weird with my bank. But I have a little savings. I can afford the down payment.”

“Alright, let’s move forward, then,” Mr. Leonis nodded, typing away at his keyboard. “Do you have all of your bank information?”

“Mm-hm,” Prompto answered, staring back at his phone. The only explanation offered to him in the recent transactions section was a “direct deposit” of eighty thousand crown that had been sent to his account just that morning.

As he tried to decipher it, with no information, his phone buzzed and a pop up showed the beginning of a text message from his father.

 **Dad** : Prompto, the house was sold this morning. A couple bought it based only on the location (they intend to tear it down and build something new), and I’ve sent along a portion of my half of the sale to your account.  
**Dad** : Hopefully this will help you get established somewhere in the city.  
**Dad** : I hope you realize this pushes forward the time that you need to be out.  
**Dad** : Let me know if you need movers to assist you, considering your arm.  
**Dad** : Be well, and good luck.

Prompto was completely flabbergasted. Part of him stubbornly wanted to deny the far-too-late support from his absentee father, but the smarter part realized that this was a mere pittance to the man, so freely given after years of withholding. The house must have sold for a ridiculous sum. And it was not quite enough to pay Prompto back for all the pain and loneliness, not to mention the outright emotional abuse of his mother.

But it would work.

~~~

The new place was not as big as the floorplan made it seem, but it was basically _just right_ for Prompto’s needs. He was careful to only buy furniture he _truly_ needed, knowing that if he was frugal and really focused about it, he could live off the money for a while. Might even be able to apply for some financial aid and attend some college classes once his full legal emancipation went through.

The worst part of the apartment was how he wished to show it off, but there was no one left who would want to see it. He missed Noct, missed late-night gaming and laughing at stupid movies and gossiping about their classmates and… everything. He wasn’t sure how to even attempt to make up with him, or if he should. Sometimes people had to cut out the dead weight.

The ache he felt for Gladio… it was a hollow, yawning pit inside of him. He had known they were never going to be anything serious, but he missed the _fun_ , the intensity. The easy friendship that translated so well to extraordinary sex.

Still, for now, he was safe and he had a chance. He needed to focus on that, for now. Maybe with time, he’d make new friends.

Not that he’d been so lucky for the first fifteen years of his life. But things were looking up.

~~~

“Prompto,” Ignis’s voice cut across the chatter of the other dismissed students, clearly enough that Prompto knew he couldn’t pretend to have not heard.

“Hey, Ignis,” Prompto waved awkwardly with his broken arm, his good one balancing his backpack on his shoulder. “How are you?”

“I’m well,” The older man replied, standing primly in front of the passenger side of his car, clearly waiting to retrieve Noctis from school. “What happened to your arm?”

“Little mishap,” Prompto shrugged, wincing as the shift pulled on his arm in just the wrong way.

“A ‘mishap’,” Ignis replied, his tone suggesting that he was a little put off by the inadequate explanation.

“It was nice to see you,” Prompto said cordially, nodding and turning to leave.

“If I may ask,” Ignis stopped him, his gentle voice commanding when he needed it to be. “What has soured your friendship with Noctis? He’s been extraordinarily ill-mannered these last few weeks.”

“Uh,” Prompto blinked down.

 _Huh,_ He thought. _The pain is back._

“Well, I guess I’ve just had a few ‘hiccups’ lately, and it got hard to keep coming over to hang out, really. Not really a lack of interest or anything.”

“Hiccups,” Ignis said, blinking back at him, expecting clarification. “Like your broken arm?”

“Yeah, haha,” Prompto itched his nose. “Unfortunately.”

They stood awkwardly for a moment, Ignis clearly wanting to prod him for more information, but too polite to do so, and Prompto too full of anxiety to try to latch on to some other topic that was less painful.

“Uh, sorry, Ignis, but I really have to go,” He pointed his thumb down the street. “I have to run to work, and I don’t want to be late. The boss’s already annoyed with me now that I can’t run the deliveries.”

“Of course,” Ignis nodded him off. “Get well, Prompto.”

“Thanks,” Prompto smiled, feeling it wobbling, and took off at a jog to make it to the restaurant with a few minutes to spare to change in the bathroom.

~~~

“Prompto, we need you to help serve,” His boss called from the kitchen.

“Sir, I can’t carry-” Prompto gaped at him from the register. The boss knew that, _surely_. With an arm in a sling he couldn’t exactly balance a tray and make it to a table with any amount of grace. Or at all.

“Help out or we’ll let you go,” The older man insisted. “We don’t need any dead weight around here.”

 _Dead weight._ Prompto sighed softly. _Pretty much the only thing I’ve ever successfully become._

Prompto managed to carry three trays to the customers before his arm began to feel shaky and weak supporting the somewhat heavy bowls of ramen. The pulsing twinge spreading from his wrist to his elbow should have warned him that he was overworking the still-healing bone, but of course he pushed it to the point of no return.

Luckily, when the fifth tray fell from his grasp and broke two bowls against the floor, none of the piping hot ramen splashed anyone but himself.

“I’m sorry, oh my gods, I’m so sorry,” He gasped, ignoring the way his shins burned, trying to scoop up the broken pieces of the bowls.

The boss stormed out of the kitchen like the Infernian, face red with rage. “Out! Get out!” He shouted, pointing to the door.

“I’ll clean it-”

“You’ve done quite enough,” The boss snarled. “What if those bowls had landed on one of my customers? Gather your things and leave.”

Prompto nodded, standing with a little difficulty, his legs pained and his arm aching with the effort. He grabbed his backpack from the back room and slipped out the rusty access door at the back of the building.

He was glad he hadn’t brought his bike, because he needed his left arm to cradle his right as he walked back to his apartment. It was more than an ache, now, and Prompto worried that he had done some kind of irreparable damage to the healing limb.

It took two vicodin to quiet the pain before he could sleep that night, and it drew him into a blissfully disoriented sleep, allowing him to rest his exhausted body for a full night for the first time in more than a month.

~~~

With the weather unseasonably warm, Prompto woke late Saturday morning in a vague haze, presumably from taking more than he was strictly prescribed. He rubbed his face and sighed, swinging his legs out of bed and making his way to the kitchen to wrap his cast so that he could shower. It still hurt, but nowhere near as badly as it had the night before, so he was hopeful that he had simply overused it and not done anything too terrible to impede the healing process.

Showering was difficult with one arm, and the red welts on his shins hurt under the warmth of the water, but once he was clean he felt a little better.

He picked out some respectable clothes from his meager options, determined that by the end of the weekend he would have a new job.

The first few places looked at his broken arm and then back at him like he was crazy. As if it should be obvious that they weren’t going to hire someone who couldn’t work at full capacity for an indeterminate amount of time. Even despite his assurances that he would only be out for a few weeks (a lie; he was getting better at it), both restaurants politely told him to try somewhere else.

The supermarket two blocks away called to Prompto when his stomach gurgled with hunger, so he made his way there for a quick pre-prepped lunch. It was a splurge of funds, but after the night before, he could use it.

It was when he passed by the bakery and saw all of the premade birthday cakes that he realized what day it was.

He was finally a legal adult.

The feeling sunk inside him at the realization that the milestone had gone forgotten by everyone, including himself.

Pushing the shaking ache down deeper into himself, he grabbed a sandwich, chips and a drink and made his way back to his apartment to eat, rather than finding a table in the cafe area.

He chewed the food with little passion as he sat on his bed, arm tightly slung against his chest, crumbs gathering everywhere from the dry sub roll.

He was halfway through the sandwich when a knock on his door startled him. It took some minutes for him to get off the bed, and pad over the bare floor to push onto his tiptoes to look through the peephole.

It was Ignis.

 _How the hell did he find out where I live?_ Prompto blinked, flattening his feet and pulling the chain out of the locking mechanism before unlocking the knob and opening the door.

“Good afternoon,” Ignis greeted him pleasantly, as if it was a normal occurrence.

“Uh, hi,” Prompto said, glancing at him warily. “What’s up, Ignis? How’d you-”

“I have my ways, of course,” Ignis answered. “Though I must admit I was surprised to find your parent’s home bulldozed to the ground when I stopped by there this morning.”

“Uh, yeah,” Prompto nodded, still hanging onto the door, unsure whether to invite the man in. “They sold it last month, moved to Altissia.”

“Yes, I did find that out,” Ignis nodded, but provided no further information as to how. “I only wished to stop by to wish you well on your birthday. I admit I may have also gone a bit overboard when I realized that you also deserved a house-warming.”

Ignis produced a basket wrapped prettily with clear cellophane and ribbons, full with various items, and a small wrapped box from just beyond the doorway.

“Might I come in?” He asked as Prompto blinked, mouth open.

“Oh! Yeah, of course,” Prompto said, stepping to the side to allow Ignis to cart the items inside.

“I apologize for turning up so abruptly,” Ignis said as he put the gifts on the kitchen counter. “I only just realized the date. Things have been rather hectic at the Caelum household. Noctis is preparing for his internship and he’s been, as I had said last week, fairly inflexible of late.”

“Dude, it’s totally okay,” Prompto sputtered. “I mean, I didn’t expect _anyone_ to remember. I, uh, didn’t really realize it until I saw a birthday cake at the grocery store, heh.”

“Have you not heard from Noctis or Gladiolus?” Ignis asked, his normally composed face twitching at the eyebrows.

“Oh, no,” Prompto brushed a hand through his hair, realizing how messy it probably was because he could no longer blow dry it, and how he’d been wandering around letting it air dry all morning. He fidgeted, tugging at his shirt and trying to relax his posture, feeling like he was under scrutiny, as he usually did with Ignis. “No, I haven’t talked to either of them in a few weeks now.”

“I see,” Ignis said, his go-to cryptic acknowledgement of digging below the surface of a statement. “Prompto, might we have a word?”

“Uh,” Prompto’s pulse quickened. A word with Ignis was sure to uncover all of the lies he’d been telling for more than a month now. “Yeah, of course. Have a seat.”

They settled in the oddball dining chairs Prompto had found at the thrift shop, mismatching but full of character.

“I would appreciate it if you would attempt to contact Noctis,” The older man asked. It was odd to have someone so put-together and mature ask _him_ for a favor, and Prompto was a little perplexed by it, if he was honest.

“Uh, I-”

“I know that you should not have to bear this burden,” Ignis adjusted his glasses, a gesture of discomfort that was not lost on Prompto, who was, himself, barely holding back from jiggling his leg as he sat in the awkward situation. “Because certainly this was not a malicious parting on your part. I can see that you’ve had many difficulties these past weeks, what with your parent’s divorce, the sale of the house, the emancipation proceedings.”

 _Six,_ Prompto blinked. _Ignis can **really** get an investigation solved within hours._

“Why didn’t you simply explain all of this to Noctis?” Ignis asked.

Prompto sighed. “Because, Ignis, you know what he’d do. He’d offer to take me in, or he’d offer to give me money, and when you told me years ago that I wouldn’t see a dime from the Caelum family, I made sure to remember that.”

“Prompto, I-” Ignis faltered. It was a little unsettling, truth be told. “I’ve made a grave error in not clarifying things, it seems. That was indeed a heartfelt sentiment when you first began spending time with Noct. But I should have made it clear that at a point, you crossed over the line from mere ‘potentially dangerous acquaintance’ to ‘vital friendship’. That the rules around your initial relationship no longer applied. I hope you forgive me.”

Prompto wasn’t sure how to respond. It was a weight off of his shoulders to realize that Ignis had come to think of him fondly, though the man didn’t show it in a way that Prompto could easily parse. He glanced over at the gifts and thought back to all the times Ignis would prepare a meal that _Prompto_ liked when he would come over, the gentle ribbings and the congratulations he offered when Prompto did well in school.

“I think you need to forgive me, honestly,” Prompto sighed. “I gotta admit that I thought you just barely tolerated me all this time.”

“I’m afraid being even-tempered comes with some drawbacks,” Ignis smiled, and it was the first time Prompto had seen more than a twitch of one side of his mouth. “It doesn’t leave me much room to make my fondness known. Though I do try. I’m glad that you and Noctis became friends, Prompto. It’s a shame to see it in such disarray now.”

“Yeah,” Prompto leaned back against the chair, rearranging his sling. “Even if you had told me that I wasn’t on ‘probation’ anymore, I still probably wouldn’t have told Noct, though.”

“I can understand that,” Ignis nodded. “Though I wish that you would, now that the worst is over. He misses you. And I miss the Noctis that was far less belligerent. So perhaps that’s a little selfish of me.”

“It’s fine,” Prompto chuckled. “I’m just not sure he’d take a call or text from me.”

“I’ll make sure he does,” Ignis grinned.

“Alright, then,” Prompto shrugged. “But I’m going to wait until tomorrow. I don’t think I can really handle a rejection on my birthday.”

“A fair caveat,” Ignis nodded. “But I _do_ suggest you contact Gladiolus today. He’s been far worse off than Noctis, and I know he wishes to speak with you for your birthday.”

“Wait,” Prompto’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why-”

“Gladio confided to me that he was frustrated, romantically, just a few days ago,” Ignis replied. “He mentioned not knowing whether he’d see his partner on their upcoming birthday. That it was weighing on him, because they were fighting, but he’d planned something special a few weeks prior. It took but a few minutes to work that out when I realized it was your birthday today. And Gladio’s mood swing coincided with Noctis’s. Two and two only ever add up to four, you see.”

“Well, he’s not going to like that,” Prompto sighed. “He didn’t want anyone to know we were - wait, sorry - he was _planning something special_?”

“I can only relay to you that those were his words,” Ignis folded his hands on his knees. “I have no details.”

“When you say ‘frustrated romantically’,” Prompto hesitated. “Sorry, I don’t want to throw too much information at you. Um, we weren’t really _‘dating’_.”

“If you weren’t before, he clearly was planning for that,” Ignis said, matter-of-factly. “Perhaps this is the ‘special something’.”

“This is a lot to try to take in,” Prompto said, rubbing at his forehead. “I can see all the evidence lines up, but Ignis, I’m no fucking good with math. I _know_ two plus two equals four, but it just sounds ridiculous in this case.”

“Well,” Ignis smiled gently. “You can trust that I know what I’m talking about. I only ever scored one hundred percent in mathematics.”

~~~

 **PromptlyLicked** : hey  
**PromptlyLicked** : uh  
**PromptlyLicked** : i think i need to explain some stuff to you  
**PromptlyLicked** : if you’re willing to hear me out  
**PromptlyLicked** : give me a call

~~~

Prompto was awoke from a nap by the trilling of his phone, set to sound rather than vibrate. It was Gladio, and though Prompto was the one to initiate contact, he was terrified to pick up the phone.

Still, it’d be best to make a perfectly clean break if necessary.

“Hi,” Prompto said, carefully, pressing his face half into his pillow.

“Hey,” Gladio answered. “Sorry it’s so late. I got into a fight with Noct and shut off my phone ‘cause I didn’t want to get all of his bitchy texts.”

“S’okay,” Prompto breathed. “Um. There’s some stuff I wanna tell you, but I’m not sure it’s best to do it over the phone. Would you want to meet up? If not, I totally understand.”

“Yeah, you want to come over?”

“Actually,” Prompto said, hesitant. “Maybe you should come _here_.”

~~~

Gladio’s knock was far heavier than Ignis’s, and it caused Prompto’s heart rate to skyrocket. He had been pacing the floor from the kitchen to the bed, over and over again, worrying at his lip with his teeth until it was sore.

He regretted his choice a bit. He trusted Ignis implicitly, but he now feared that the older man’s assumption was far from correct. Gladio was _gorgeous_ , and it was more than possible for him to have moved on to someone new between their last conversation and now. He could have been confiding about someone else entirely.

Prompto opened the door to the cold night air, and the man was an absolute vision of an oasis in the desert, even despite the dark circles under his eyes and the haphazard gathering of hair at the top-back of his head. His stubble had even grown into a light beard.

“Hey there,” Prompto said, gesturing for Gladio to enter the small apartment while he hid his busted arm behind the door.

“Hey, Blondie,” Gladio breathed, his eyes wide and a quirk of his mouth.

Prompto’s heart soared at the return of the endearment.

Gladio stepped into the place, his boots damp with the accumulation of precipitation from the late afternoon rainstorm. He shucked off the boots as Prompto closed the door.

Prompto hesitated, fiddling with the sling nervously.

Gladio stood to full height once his shoes were off, turning with a question on his lips when he saw the state of Prompto’s arm, and his face telegraphed his shock.

“What the hell happened?” Gladio was livid, but his hands were gentle as he moved them over Prompto’s shoulders and then up to cup his face.

“I, uh,” Prompto flushed, embarrassed. “I got a little hit by a car?”

“You’re joking,” Gladio stepped back, one hand left on Prompto’s uninjured side.

“Nope,” Prompto sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. “I was delivering for the restaurant and this guy ran a red light, but I was a little too on the ball and pulled my bike out into the street once the green light came on for the crosswalk-”

“What’s the license plate number?” Gladio grumbled.

“I’m not going to let you hunt him down,” Prompto laughed. “It’s healing. Especially now that I don’t have a job to overwork it.”

“What happened with the ramen place?”

“I broke my arm, delivering for them,” Prompto shrugged, full of good humor. “Then I couldn’t work anything but the register. When I dropped some full bowls all over myself, that was the last straw.”

“Okay, if you brought me out here to get me _absolutely furious_ on your behalf, it’s working.”

“That really _wasn’t_ what I called you over for,” Prompto smiled gently. “But I wanted you to see that I wasn’t blowing you off. I was just having the shittiest month of my _life_.”

“Yeah, what’s with the apartment?” Gladio asked, finally looking around.

“Mom and Dad are divorcing,” Prompto answered, moving to the kitchen to get something to drink. “They sold the house. It’s an empty plot right now, ‘til the new owners build their dream place on the spot.”

“Okay, but where are your parents?” Gladio followed him, taking the juice carton and the glass from him, pouring it helpfully with his two working hands.

“In Altissia, where they’ve been for the past two years,” Prompto said, taking the glass from him and downing a healthy gulp before continuing. “Why’d you think it was so easy for me to sneak out to fuck you whenever you asked?”

“I just thought you were being stealthy about it,” Gladio admitted.

“Not even a little,” Prompto grinned. “I probably couldn’t even manage it. Can’t even bike down the road without stuff like this happening.”

“Shit,” Gladio groaned, putting his face in one hand. “I can’t believe… I feel like an asshole.”

“Well,” Prompto said, grabbing Gladio by the arm. “I wasn’t exactly helping you to understand.”

“Don’t do that, okay?” Gladio sighed, pulling the hand off his arm and holding it gently. “Don’t take the blame when it’s not yours to take. I should have… I should have just _not_ been an idiot and told you what was going on in my head.”

“Uh, what?” Prompto asked, truly befuddled. “I don’t get it, Big Guy.”

“I was trying to tell you, for like weeks,” Gladio pulled the hand in his own to his lips. “I was having a hard time just being casual. I didn’t want to keep pretending that I didn’t want you in every way possible. But I kept chickening out. Letting you leave, letting you think that’s what I wanted.”

Prompto’s eyes widened with disbelief. He’d wanted it to be the truth so badly, but he couldn’t conceive of it actually happening. It was a struggle not to throw himself into Gladio’s arms, but he knew there was more about to pour out of the man, and also, it would probably really, _really_ hurt to bash his arms against Gladio’s firm pecs.

“It was unfair of me to ask you to keep us a secret,” Gladio said, earnest. “It was doomed to fail if we were going to pretend it wasn’t happening. It wasn’t fair of me to expect you to be available whenever I wanted, and it wasn’t fair to love you without telling you. I’m really sorry.”

 _Gladiolus Amicitia **apologizing** for something?!_ Prompto’s mind reeled. _And more than that, he **loved** me?_

“Gladio,” Prompto breathed, at a loss for words. “I- I had _no_ idea you felt that way. I was, admittedly, a little hopeful when you started wanting to see each other night after night, but I couldn’t let myself believe-”

“Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why couldn’t you let yourself believe it?” Gladio seemed to be getting riled. “Prompto, you’re _the most fun person I know_. You’re sweet and you’re always trying _so hard_. I wasn’t joking all those times I told you that you were perfect. That you were _good_.”

Prompto’s pulse fluttered, his face flushing, needing desperately to shy away from all of the praise. “Gladio,” He gasped.

“I’m not kidding now, either,” Gladio was insistent, forced him to face him. “You deserve more than just to be dumped aside. Not by me, not by Noct, and definitely not by your parents.”

The dam burst, tears dripping from his lashes as he tried to hold it together, but it was useless.

“C’mere,” Gladio said, holding him close and moving them toward the bed, sitting Prompto down before he finally removed his coat and joined him. “Shit, I suck at this whole birthday thing, don’t I?”

“No,” Prompto laughed through his tears. “Not even close.”

“Pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to make you cry,” He says, regretfully.

“It’s good crying, though,” Prompto said, breathing deep and trying to slow the stream. “Earlier it was definitely bad crying. Until Ignis came by, I thought I was going to be totally alone and forgotten today. I even forgot, myself. Pretty pathetic.”

“Shit,” Gladio said, holding him a little tighter, hands roaming to brush hairs out of his face.

They sat together, silently, for a long while, eventually curling up more comfortably against the pillows propped up against the wall. It had grown quite dark in the meantime, and they sat in the pitch blackness of the apartment, just enjoying the closeness.

“Hey,” Gladio said, quietly. “Can we start over? Do this the right way?”

“No,” Prompto shook his head. “I don’t want to act like the last four months didn’t happen. That was pretty good. Well, maybe not the last few weeks. But the rest of it? I’m not putting that out of my mind.”

Gladio snorted a laugh into Prompto’s hair. “Alright, fair.”

“I do want to be with you, though,” Prompto said, pushing off of Gladio’s chest to sit up straight and look him in the eye. “I just realized I never told you that your feelings were totally reciprocated.”

“We suck at this,” Gladio said, his mouth a flat, unimpressed line.

“Yep!” Prompto grinned. “Let’s suck together!”

Gladio just stared at him for a beat. Prompto smirked back at him.

“It really pisses me off that I missed that about you,” Gladio remarked. “Like, really.”

“Yeah, well I’m pissed off that I missed out on eating some cake today,” Prompto grumbled. “It’s my favorite birthday activity.”

“Want me to go out and grab one?” Gladio asked, brushing a finger over his chin.

“Nope,” Prompto bit his lip. “I’d rather replace that tradition with a brand-new one.”

He crawled onto Gladio’s lap as best he could one-armed, and was helped along by Gladio, whose lips met his own with a careful heat.

“You sure you’re up for this?” Gladio asked. “How long has it been since you broke the arm?”

“Two weeks!” Prompto answered cheerfully. It was fun to answer so perkily and watch Gladio’s grimace. “It broke in three places, if you can believe that.”

“I most certainly can,” Gladio laid Prompto back on the bed, nosing at his jaw and mouthing his neck. “You’re a wreck.”

“Yep,” Prompto laughed, tickled by Gladio’s grown-out beard. “But I have to assume that’s something you like about me, otherwise you’re saddling yourself with a mishap-prone person of your own volition.”

“Yeah, it is kinda cute,” Gladio admitted, nipping at his chin. “I’ll just have to be on the lookout for you. Walk on the side of you that is closest to the road. Maybe get you one of those leashes they put on toddlers.”

“Whatever makes you happy, love,” Prompto smiled, pulling Gladio back in for a longer, more intense slant of their mouths.

~~~

“Ughhhhhh, I’m so nervous,” Prompto whined, squirming in the passenger’s seat of Gladio’s truck. “What if he’s not going to forgive me?”

“Baby,” Gladio looked away from the road to level him a disapproving look. “Noct’s the one that needs to be forgiven.”

“Gladio, you know that’s not true,” Prompto rolled his eyes. “We’re both in the wrong, here. Just like with you and I.”

“Please don’t take this away from me,” Gladio said, rounding the corner slowly. It seemed that after Prompto relayed the details of the accident, Gladio was trying to be a more careful driver. It was _adorable_. “You know how much I love to give Noct shit.”

“Yes, dear,” Prompto said, with a sugary-sweet appeasing tone.

They drove into the parking garage for Noct’s building and pulled into Regis’s spot. The man was barely ever home, with how busy he was with both his company _and_ his work as the Insomnian Chief Councilman.

Prompto awkwardly went to reach for the door handle with his left hand, but Gladio stopped him with a soft grip on his upper arm.

“Hey,” He said, his amber eyes seemingly aglow, the lighting in the garage casting flecks of gold within the brown. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“I know,” Prompto nodded. “I guess.”

“Come here,” Gladio urged, slipping his broad hand to the back of Prompto’s head, pulling him forward into a long, searing kiss that melted through Prompto’s whole body. When they pulled away, it looked like something was caught in Gladio’s throat, and he bit at his generous bottom lip.

“What’s up, Big Guy?” Prompto smiled at him.

“Here,” Gladio pulled a small box from his jacket pocket. “I got this a few weeks ago. Meant to give it to you last night, but obviously didn’t manage it.”

Prompto took it, smiling down at the palm-sized flat box wrapped with orange and purple ribbons of two different sizes. He plucked at the strings, and lifted the lid of the box, finding an elaborate keychain of gold; a gorgeous phoenix feather. Attached was a silver key, both items nestled in soft pink cotton.

“Move in with me?” Gladio asked. “I know you just got your own place, but I was waiting ‘til your birthday, and, well, that all got royally screwed up.”

Prompto pulled the key and it's beautiful chain out of the box, staring at it and the enormity of its meaning washing over him.

“Gladio,” Prompto breathed, grateful. “I’m… I’m so happy you want this. I want it, too.”

Gladio seemed to hear the hesitance. “But?”

“But let’s give it a few months, okay?” Prompto met his eyes. “I really, _really_ don’t want to screw this up. Let me live on my own for a little bit. And then, yes. Definitely.”

“As long as it’s not a no,” Gladio smiled at him, a little disappointed, but ultimately understanding. “I love you, Prom.”

“I love you, too, Gladio.” Prompto leaned over to kiss him once more, a kiss of promise and of renewed hope and joy.

Pulling back, he gave Gladio a huge smile. “Now, let’s go and face the beast.” Slipping out of the cab of the truck and rounding the back to meet Gladio, he added, “Think he’ll ever forgive you for sleeping with me after you promised you wouldn’t?”

“Noct isn’t a _God_ , despite how he acts sometimes,” Gladio commented with a raised eyebrow, his arm slipping around Prompto’s ribs. “He doesn’t _control_ me. It was a courtesy I was giving him. That I maybe forgot about the second I saw you that night. And anyway, there’s nothing he can do to punish me. Unless somehow he convinces you to leave me.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Prompto grinned. “Noct may be my best friend, but he doesn’t get to tell me how to conduct my love life.”

“Hey, how come he was more mad at the idea of _me_ hooking up with _you?_ ” Gladio complained. “ _I’m_ practically his brother. He should have been warning you away from _me_.”

“Oh, honey,” Prompto chuckled. “That’s so cute that you think Noct knew for even a second that I had a massive crush on you.”

“Yeah, I guess he’s got his head up his ass with how he feels about Ignis,” Gladio shrugged. “Can’t see what’s going on around him.”

“Wait-” Prompto stopped in his tracks, Gladio smirking as he continued toward the elevators. “What... Gladio! Are you serious?”

“Apparently, he’s not the only one,” Gladio remarked, laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> I realized this was fairly similar to ACTR but hey, I like to write what I like to write. Prompto suffering but being pulled out of it by love and friendship.
> 
> Thinking of doing a Gladio POV, if there's interest. Lemme know.
> 
> catch me on twitter, @fictionalthirst


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